Katie Holmes dropped from Batman sequel

KatieHolmes.jpgThis has got to be good news for fans of Batman, and an especially good sign that the Studio has seen the light.

According to Comic Book Movie:

New reports reveal actors Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman have all signed to star in a second Batman movie, but love interest Katie Holmes has been dropped.

Warner Bros. are thrilled with the response to Batman Begins as it took $46.9 million in its first weekend in the US box office and have recruited the film’s stars for an upcoming sequel.

There are also a few telling quotes from the inside source that has been talking:

A source also tells PageSix.com, “Everyone is in agreement that the movie’s strength is with Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.”

Then adding of Katie Holmes, “She won’t be in the sequel… the next romantic interest will be a much stronger actress.”

“Warner is happy that people are now focusing on who’ll be playing the JOKER rather than Katie and Tom.”

That is really telling, it strongly suggests they don’t rate her acting too highly and that the calibre is definitely with the male leads.

You have to agree that this is the right decision. Even in the trailers she looked out of place and you were just sucked into the whole Dawson world in an instant. One has to ask, how can she break away from that? Do you agree she should be dropped for the sequel?

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54 thoughts on “Katie Holmes dropped from Batman sequel

  1. The Movie was one of, if not the best of the modern Batman movies. As for Katie Holmes, shes hot and the performance was so so. I have to agree with most of the guys, no love interest is necessary. Katie is gone because Tom has turned her into a Scientology Zombie. He has officially lost the plot!!

  2. I’m glad Katie Holmes has been dropped. She was so out of place among the good actors in Batman Begins that it was embarrassing.

    There are pretty-girl actresses who are genuinely top quality acting stars. Scarlett Johansson is one. Hire if available! (Assuming you want pure quality more than immediate box office pull to carry the movie.)

    Then there are the pretty-girl so-so actresses who can nevertheless rise to the occasion, enough to still be a positive for the movie. Jessica Alba was outclassed in Sin City, but she was still good news for the film. So we don’t want to drop her from anything.

    Then there are the pretty girls who can’t rise to the occasion. Katie Holmes has proved she’s one of those.

    Below that there’s only Jessica Simpson, the complete non-actress.

    There are so many genuinely good actresses who also look good but have ridiculously short careers, it’s a shame. I want to see the quality actresses, or at least the solid workers like Alba, have careers like the top male stars, not just be replaced by the next pretty face.

    It’s not personal. I don’t dislike Katie Holmes. She seems so sweet, who could? And I don’t know her from anything, so she was a fresh face. But I see no need to waste any screen time at all on her. She’s not a strong enough actress. Let her be just a happy wife.

    I also agree that Batman doesn’t need a romantic interest en every movie. He’s already had one, and it wasn’t so great. And he’s not about that.

    But if they do do one, it should be an established flame like Talia (the obvious choice, as Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter) or Silver StCloud (I hope not, because she’s best known for having realised that Bruce Wayne is Batman, and we’ve so done that) or Serena Kyle.

    KellTrenzer: “On an unrelated note, they NEED to get Gary Oldman back too.”

    They sure do. And I bet he’ll be happy to have a regular stint playing a normal, sane human being of growing importance in a healthy, high-quality franchise.

  3. i didnt think katie was THAT bad. true, she wasnt spectacular, but she wasnt that horrible. i was thinking if natalie portman would be a good love interest. i know shes a little young, but she does have a certain maturity to her that could work well with christian. other than that, i can’t think of anyone else who would do an ok/decent job.

  4. batman rules and they should deffently do a another one dont give a rats ass for some new love in any batman movie and one mre yhing never put robin in it he is a fruit

  5. listen batman begins was awsome and realy hope that the joker is in the sequal and i rather see jim carrey play the joker then anyone els but who ever the pick i will still be happy with the dission because i love the carecter the joker he is awsome but never get rid of christien bale as batman he was the best batman they ever had second best was mickle keaton i cant wait for the sequal

  6. Well although katie holmes may not be the best actress in the world I dont see the point in bringing about yet another name to come in and play the chick batman dates for a while until either he realises he is putting her in danger or she realises she cant cope with the whole two sides of bruce wayne thing. My point being that this romantic part of the story has been set up already and it seems like a bit of a waste to just discard it. The look on his face when she says she cant be with him until he finds himself again shows how disappointed he is and how much he wants to be with her. I guess im just one those people who likes to see the romance story thing work out.

    Just keep her in the next few movies for fuck sake. what harm can it do really?

  7. I thought she did an incredible job in that movie.The reason why i said that because,i know when the person knows how to project and emote herself not just w/ a fake cry or tears in her eyes.Where i came from yout don’t just get the part until you complete attending the acting workshop,it’s just like w/o passing your “S.A.T” test.So, i definitely and totally disagree w/ whom ever people thinks she’s not good and sexy enough for the role.I would suggest you take a hike!I’m a critic too myself and been to a private school the whole time i was growing up.Now 37 w/ 2 beautiful gifted kids.To anti-Katie,pre-judgemental fan none of you even make sense!Why do you think Katie would be in the movie if it hadn’t been for the person who cast her in it?Do you even have any idea what it’s like to be given a role that’s based upon the script?I don’t think so?It’s just like me being born and raised in the philippines,had a good life came to the to U.S then,found out that not all the places in the states are nice enough to live-in.There are people struggling to earn a living for more hours w/ little-less money.Don’t you have anything better to do w/ what’s left in you life.I think she is so “Versatile”,she can do just about anything in the movie and can face the camera w/o make-up or cover on her face because,of her nice skin tone.For me she’s a “Magic Wand” or better yet “Wonderwoman”.

  8. Has anyone taken a minute to look at Katie’s perpective? She was asked to act in a batman movie, which is way above the stature of anything else she’s done. She’s young and still learning; she might not have been right for the part but I think she did as well as she could given the circumstances. And now, she’s not even being considered for the next film becuase her idiot boyfriend has to gobble up all the media attention he can. Almost every time their relationship has been brought to public attention, Tom has been the one to initiate it. I just hope she gets through all of this and it doesn’t ruin her career because I think she has real potential. She just needs some experience and time away from the paparazzi (and Cruise).

  9. That part was made for any of these three actresses, who would have been far superior to Katie Holmes in that role. She did a terrible job in my opinion, she was worse than any other female in any Batman movie.

    Kate Beckinsale

    Zooey Deschanel

    Jennifer Connelly

    Parker Posey

  10. Ooh, really bad typos. That’s what I get for surfing late at night. the word “nane” is supposed to be babe. “Dicard” is discard. You can figure out any others.

  11. Personally, I never found Katie Holmes to be that bad. She just tended to be outgunned by the other solid actors. Her character is what really appealed to me, though, as she was not the ultra-sexy nane that there always has to be. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good lookin’ gal, but I think it was interesting to have a different aim for her character. In defense of Begins, I believe she was a good tool for spurring Bruce into taking action. Her role has been used and it’s okay to dicard it. She definitely isn’t necessary for the future (set up just fine at the end), but I don’t find it insubstantial for a beginning. Further romantic interest is definitely unnecessary, at least for one sequel, but as was pointed out, Talia, the daughter of Ra’s was the woman most pressing on Batman’s persona. I would seriously bet money that she will become involved in some future film. This is made especially likely as it is a guarantee that Ra’s al-Ghul will return. As he alluded to in the movie, he believes himself to be immortal. That is because he has resurrected himself many, many times.

    Now to make a couple of corrections. Batman has had more than just one, or even two love interests. For anyone interested, there are Batman books out there that truly cover every aspect of his life (a man can’t get any privacy these days!). I was reading through one the other day, and you could find at least half a dozen other gals that he fancied at one point or another.

    Another thing, Batman is not a player. He had his two European girls for cover, but he is driven largely by a single-purpose, and it’s not the perpetuation of his genetics. He is a man with real passions, and he takes his job and his love interests seriously–a man torn between his heart and his duty, and duty always eventually winning.

    Also, I’m comletely baffeled by the call of some for less substance and more sex-appeal.

    *sigh* Ignorance. Sorry so long.

  12. Wouldn’t be worth it since we don’t specifically block words. Blacklist is on however, and if your comment isn’t accepted (as per FAQ and instructions on comments screen) then it will send a notification to the post author to let them know that it needs reviewed and approved, which we will do.

  13. sorry that took so many posts – i couldn’t tell why it wouldn’t accept my comment – apparently the problem was fixed when I mis-spelled “matur” – how about a FAQ that says what words are and are not allowed?

  14. I would challenge the director and producers to incorporate excellent sexuo-intellectual actresses (don’t be afraid of imperfect physiques or matur women) in gender-neutral roles. (I think that somehow the treatment of the material being more earthy and realistic made the absence of women more out of place than it would have been in the comic books.)

  15. I agree that romance has no place in Batman movies, but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be any women! On the other hand, better no women at all than to relegate women to shallow “male-gaze” versions of the female roles in life.

  16. Also, while the abundance of compelling actors in the movie appealed to me on a se*uo-intellectual level, there were only 2 women in the movie, the invisible Mom (aka recipient of pearls as compared to the more heroic, parental, and well-rounded characters of Dad and Alfred) and the “love interest” who was nothing more than a love interest, despite shallow attempts to beef her into an idealistic heroic ADA. You give us the cream of the crop of men, and then Katie Holmes?

  17. I agree that batman shouldn’t have a love interest, it has no place in batman, and for us women who identify with Batman (yes we girls also fantasized about being bad-a** self-sacrificing spies and heroes), we get quite alienated when he gets googly over some insubstantial little girl.

  18. I don’t find Katie Holmes acting very interesting at all. She wasn’t convincing as a D.A. and she wasn’t convincing as a lifelong friend of Bruce’s. I don’t mind the character of Rachel but I think that she could have been played as far less idealist and whiney. I could even tolerate the idea that she and Bruce could’ve been romantically involved in the past if she were more perceptive to what he was going through during the course of the movie. But she’s so clueless and self righteous that she just comes off as a b*tch. (Am I the only one that was glad she got Scarecrowed?) So i’m torn only in the sense that if she hadn’t sucked so much I might have to sit through another performance from her in the second one. She’s not strong enough or sexy enough to make sense as a continuing love interest for Batman who BY THE WAY never has continuing love interests anyway. I know this series plans to delve into Bruce’s character as more of determined man and less like a billionaire playboy, but I find it hard to believe that given his background that he would settle down anyway. He’s to angry and tortured to really love anyone long term, especially not this Dawes-Dawson-Brat. Good riddance!

  19. Holmes was the girl to have played his teenage interest but not a grown up one and since every other actor in the film “aged” you had to keep Holmes as well. But I’m glad she’s out – she was a drag to watch on the screen. She was great on Dawson’s Creek but she’s just not compelling enough to draw you in on the big screen. Scarlett Johansson can but not Holmes.

    And I agree, I don’t think Batman NEEDS a romantic interest although I’m not familiar enough with the original comic book series to make a determination that he should NEVER have one. A mans’s gotta eat right?

  20. I quite liked the CHARACTER of Rachel, actually.

    She’s intelligent, idealistic, and had good lines – apart from her speech at the end, which, when you look at the way Rachel was always disappointed by how Bruce behaved prior to disappearing (and when encountering his playboy persona), doesn’t make any bloody sense.

    I don’t think the sequels would benefit from not having her in them, since Goyer and Nolan made a point of establishing her as Bruce’s conscience and someone whom he has known all his life. So unless she dies in the next film, simply leaving her out would be terrible in terms of storytelling.

    I think Katie Holmes did a decent job, but with all the others, she was completely outclassed… Bale, Caine, etc. were their characters, Holmes was Holmes saying Rachel’s lines. Plus, she felt way too young for the role. That’s not a question of actual age, but she’ll always be as cute as a button and for that movie that simply felt wrong.

    I’m totally in favour of re-casting the role, but I can’t quite think whom I would give it to… Amanda Peet? To sexy. Eliza Dushku? Too Buffy. Cate Blanchett? Too old. Eva Green? Can she act?

    Any ideas for re-casting?

  21. I am so happy someone else agrees with me on this. Katie holmes was a terrible choice for this movie, for any movie. The whole tom and katie thing is getting so sickening. I actually had to force myself to go see this movie..which is not good for the studios, actors and anyone else who worked on this film if movie go-ers are considering not seeing somthing because of one actress. She didnt work well with the others and i think her “im so embarresed smile” makes people want to throw up. I would have much prefered Scarlet Johansen in the role. Since when does batman date anything but blondes anyway. TWO THUMBS UP FOR DROPPING KATIE HOLMES.

  22. Ummm hold on.. isn’t anyone query-ing the fact that they’re MAKING A SEQUEL. This is the Batman film a lot of fans were waiting for.. yes, the actors were great (except Katie Holmes). yes the story ends with a mention of Joker.. but why can’t people be happy with Michael Keaton’s role/battle against the Joker in the first Batman movie? Surely this now raps up the beginning parts, and u can now move on and have OTHER villains!!

    I dont understand the logic of this, but like the new Star wars movies, I thought this was just a pre-quel to the Michael Keaton classic.

    Someone email me and tell me what’s going on.
    Ali

  23. I think the idea of Batman, or Bruce Wayne, having a romantic interest is actually a good idea. The man is so closed, driven and tortured that seeing him try to deal with a normal relationship is an interesting side to his personality. Something he should surely find incredibly difficult to do since he’s all about hiding who he is, and the real him is not a nice place.

  24. Agree with most of the other posts, she didn’t add anything significant to the movie.

    It might be more prudent to have a love interest(or female character for balance) that also has an alter-ego. Catwoman style, but not catwoman.

    Actually, what other female superheros/alter-egos are there in Gotham ?

  25. the part where batman uses the hallucanagent on scarecrow wa scary but wikid…..he doesn’t need katie…..she only holded him up in the end of the movie

  26. It’s not surprising that Katie is not being asked back for the sequel because Rachel’s little speech practically wrote her out of the picture. I could see Rachel coming back as a small part or cameo, but definitely not as a love interest. If they do bring the character back I also hope they recast the role, Katie wasn’t awful in the movie, but she wasn’t good either. She added so little to the film that I thought she was a complete waste of time.

    I stand with the majority Batman doesn’t need a love interest. They always get in the way and end up finding out who he is. It makes Bruce look like an idiot for letting the women in his life know his secret identity. Ugh, I completely hated that scene in Batman Begins. I thought we’d escaped the revealing of his idenity, but nope.

    The story runs fine without a love interest and I think it’d be fun to see Bruce just dating a number of girls in the next movie. I absolutely loved the hotel scene where Bruce walks in with the 2 girls, it was grand.

  27. John had the best quote ever in the last podcast. “Shakey cam is the worst thing to happen to action movies since romantic love interests”.

    I just dont get who started that love interest trend, and who complains when the love interest angle is missing. Smallville was destroyed from day 1 because of that and now its Batmans turn. Again.

    Batman is supposed to be a playboy so would it really be so wrong to see more footage of him with a different hot chick ever scene rather than boring forced dialog and “its the arrowhead. she loves me” revalations?

  28. I don’t really believe that Katie’s character in the movie is important at all. She is not even a love interest in the film, she is simply a tool. With her words of wisdom she starts, in a way, Bruce’s wheel moving in the movie by taking him to see the mob boss. Then at the end of the movie she confirms for Bruce that he is Batman. As for the love thing, Batman has actually had two great loves in his life. The first is Catwoman but not any Catwoman, there were actually three different women who filled the role in the comics, but (forgive spelling) Sylena Kyle and Talia. Which, if the writers of this movie wanted to be correct, is Rha’s (Neeson’s character) daughter.

    Besides, there has yet to be a Batman movie with a returning female character. Face it not even Batgirl made it back.

  29. I think dumping Katie Holmes is fine, as long as they keep the CHARACTER of Rachel and recast it…one thing Nolan said he wanted to do was take Batman Begins in a new direction from what we had previously seen in the last four movies…we can’t have a different character in each movie find out that Bruce Wayne is Batman!!! It happened three different times in the last four movies! Warner Bros, please don’t make this mistake again! Just keep the character (if Batman needs a love interest at all) and RECAST her!
    Just my two cents.

  30. i think the next batman movie sould have a twist. like bruce becomes a drug dealer and a rapist and kills katie holmes while breaking into her house to rob her and then has to deal with an inner conflict on what he wants t do with the rest of his life.

  31. I agree John, Batman doesn’t need a love interest. For some reason studios feel that there always needs to be some kissing for a movie to be complete.

    On an unrelated note, they NEED to get Gary Oldman back too.

  32. I very rarely admit I am wrong, and the times I do so, I will lose a lot of sleep over it, and this is one of those times. One of the reasons that put me off watching Batman Begins is the casting of Miss Holmes. But I know I will watch it anyway albeit later, and to my amazement, I thought she didnt irritate me that much, I thought she did okay.

    Now it was pretty apparent from how their characters parted (Bruce and Rachel) that she will not be a hindrance to him, so she was wise enough to let him do his duty. So I never really expected that she will be cast in the sequel.

    I have no problems with the other members of the cast, but to get an actor to play Joker, Jack Nicholson did it fabulously well in the original Batman and he will be a tough act to follow dont you guys think, unless they cast Christian Slater, now that will be awesome!

    I’d like to see more of Gary Oldman in the sequel too! ;-)

  33. “Even in the trailers she looked out of place and you were just sucked into the whole Dawson world in an instant. One has to ask, how can she break away from that?”

    To answer above: NO.

    I love BB and she was the only weak link. She was distracting to me, with the whole TC thing + Dawson world. I don’t think I’ll ever separate her from the Dawson days.

    The only movie she was decent in was Pieces Of April. Even in that good film, I still saw her as Joey with pink hair/punk look.

  34. Katie Holmes is the best actress ever, shes also the hottest woman in the world. Her and Tom Cruise make a cute couple. YOu all suck and need to get a life.

  35. I have took the time to read through 50 of my Batman comic books and found that Bruce Wayne has never had a love interest except for the sly and beautiful Catwoman. Halle Barry destroyed our views on who Catwoman really is with that awful movie she was involved in. Now, if their is a 3rd installment of this great Batman series, the love interest should be, yup, you guessed it, SUPERMAN!!!!!!!! No really the only love interest they should put in has to have a hold to the story, this would be Catwoman

  36. I’m kinda torn on this one… I’m actually in the camp that thinks that she did a pretty good job. Whatever you may think of her performance, it was refreshing that she didn’t spend the entire film as the female lead screaming her head off or crying(COUGH**COUGH**Kirsten-Dunst-in-Spider-man**COUGH**COUGH)… I really think the decision to drop her was based on the whole Tom Cruise thing more than anything else.

    I’m also in agreement with John though… why the hell do they feel the need to have a romantic interest in these films??? I can sort of understand having one in this film, as we need to see Bruce realize that a serious romance with anyone is completely out of the question until Batman is no longer needed. Anyway, I say they should drop this element entirely, but they probably won’t.

    Having said all that… BATMAN BEGINS was easily the best film of the year thus far!

  37. I agree she wasn’t that bad in Batman. She didnt really add anything ethier though. I dont care ethier way really.

    But I think they should have a romantic interest. Bruce Wayne is a total player , of course he needs one. I just hope it isn’t some Peter Parker/mary jane type of thing.

  38. Sadly, I think the decision to drop her stems more from the sad, and in my opionion unjustifiable, press she has been unfairly getting from her new, in your face, relationship with Cruise. She wasn’t stellar in Bat Man, but then again, the movie wasn’t superb, either. No, shes not Bette Davis, but give me a break, shes now worse than the beloved Kirsten Dung-st. Whatever, ….. Paul Giamatti for THE JOKER!!!!!!

  39. I have to agree with you, John. The one thing that really stood out to me about Katie Holmes/Rachael Dawes was that she really didn’t need to be there at all. The few plot points that turned on that character could easily have depended on something else. I didn’t think she did a horrible job, but I did feel that the whole “romantic interest” angle had been forced into a story that didn’t really need or benefit from it.

  40. good riddance would be to harsh.
    she’s got that slight irritability. and even if she didn’t fare too bad, i thought she didn’t really add to the movie.

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